Senior Manager, Dry Applications & Food Innovation

Kinder's Premium Quality Seasonings & Sauces; Walnut Creek (CA); On-site; USD 160,000 - 180,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

401k

Health benefits

Bonus eligibility

Equity grants

Paid time off

Parental leave

Job summary

Kinder’s Premium Quality Seasonings & Sauces is seeking a Senior Manager of Product Development (Dry Applications) to lead bench‑top formulation, scale-up, and commercialization. You will manage a Food Science team, drive prioritization, and coordinate with R&D, QA, regulatory, Operations, and Marketing to deliver innovative dry products.

The role demands 10+ years in food product development, with 3+ years in leadership, and a strong track record in CPG innovation for sauces, seasonings or

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Food Science, Chemical Engineering, or related field; Master’s preferred.
• 10+ years in food product development with at least 3+ years in people or project leadership.
• CPG innovation with sauces, seasonings, or condiments experience preferred.
• Strong knowledge of formulation, ingredient functionality, sensory evaluation, and scale-up.
• Excellent project management and organizational skills with the ability to manage competing priorities.
• Effective communicator across multiple functions and levels.
• Results-oriented, hands-on leader with curiosity and attention to detail.

Responsibilities

• Lead, coach, and develop a team of Food Scientists by setting clear expectations, providing regular feedback, and supporting each team member in contributing to shared goals and strong team performance.
• Partner with team members to establish goals and development plans, conduct regular one-on-one meetings and performance reviews, and support growth in technical and leadership capability.
• Guide end-to-end dry applications development from concept through commercialization, thoughtfully setting priorities and allocating resources across innovation, renovation, cross qualification (migration), cost optimization, and quality initiatives.
• Keep work aligned with brand priorities, timelines, cost objectives, and cross-functional feedback. Draw on vendor and co-packer capabilities, emerging ingredients, technologies, and process improvements to broaden formulation possibilities and support efficient progress to market.
• Provide technical guidance for formulation, testing, pilot and plant trials, scale-up, and initial production. Collaborate with the team on project plans and documentation, confirm specifications, help troubleshoot issues, and support robust manufacturing transfer, quality, and consistency.
• Partner with Quality Assurance and Regulatory to support compliance with ingredient, labeling, and nutritional requirements. Guide the design and execution of shelf-life stability testing for new products.
• Partner with Operations, Marketing, Culinary, Supply Chain, and others to translate insights into scalable, commercially viable products. Bring the team's perspective to prioritization discussions, help address barriers, and elevate resource, timeline, or technical risks when appropriate.
• Coordinate concurrent individual and team projects with clear milestones, ownership, and communication. Keep leadership informed through timely updates and documentation, and work with team members to address performance or execution challenges constructively and support follow-through.

Skills

Leadership

Project management

Cross-functional collaboration

Technical formulation knowledge

Communication

Problem solving

Attention to detail

Innovation mindset

Education

Bachelor's degree in Food Science, Chemical Engineering, or related field

Master's preferred

Job description

Kinder’s Premium Quality Seasonings & Sauces is seeking a Senior Manager of Product Development (Dry Applications) to lead bench‑top formulation, scale-up, and commercialization. You will manage a Food Science team, drive prioritization, and coordinate with R&D, QA, regulatory, Operations, and Marketing to deliver innovative dry products.

The role demands 10+ years in food product development, with 3+ years in leadership, and a strong track record in CPG innovation for sauces, seasonings or